The 2009 documentary Pulp Fiction: The Golden Age of Storytelling concentrates on the history of pulp magazine literature from the 1910s to the early 1950s. Its main focus is the 1920s to 1940s.

The documentary gives context to the times which gave rise to the pulps. World War I and the following recovery was traumatic. Then came the fairly prosperous period of the 1920s. In 1929 the stock market crashed, plunging the world into a deep Depression. The term pulp came from the type of paper used for these magazines and its manufacture is described. Pulp magazines had to be both cheap and vastly entertaining to stay in business.

Pulp magazine stories were colorful and exciting, with a definite beginning, middle, and end. They transported bored or discouraged readers to exciting locales, including exotic jungles, outer space, and other planets. Alien life forms appeared to thrill eager readers. There was no competition from television because it either didn’t exist or no one had a set, and for those who had a set nothing much was on. Some of the narrative is illustrated with vintage film clips.

The documentary features eye-catching cover art and tells the sad story of how much original art as well as magazines were destroyed when pulps went out of fashion. Such items now command high prices.

A number of people are interviewed, including at least one historian, Marc Scott Zicree, and author and agent Frederik Pohl. As an agent, Pohl turned down Ray Bradbury as an author, which Bradbury relates and Pohl acknowledges was not his best move.

Author Ray Bradbury appears probably more than anyone else, recurrently throughout the documentary. He describes the Depression, during which his father unsuccessfully sought work for eight years. He saw his father in tears due to this. He says that at one time half the country was out of work. He also describes feeling rich on being paid $15.00 for a story. Since an author would have to sell a lot to make anything at that rate, some had other jobs. Bradbury’s was selling newspapers on a street corner.

The documentary states that the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises derive directly from pulp fiction. Although the pulps went out of business, many books including the best stories from the pulps were published. Bradbury tells how stories he wrote between the ages of 21 and 24 were published in Dark Carnival, his first book, and are still available in The October Country.

This was a fast moving and entertaining documentary.